Pulley drive for washing machine



Oct. 30, 1962 F. R. SIBBALD PULLEY DRIVE FOR WASHING macnma 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 20, 1961 Oct. 30, 1962 F. R. SIBBALD PULLEY DRIVE FOR WASHING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 20, 1961 Oct. 30, 1962 F. R. SIBBALD 3,060,764

PULLEY DRIVE FOR WASHING MACHINE Filed April 20, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Oct. 30, 1962 F. R. SIBBALD PULLEY DRIVE FOR WASHING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 20, 1961 Bfifidjhd Patented Oct. 30, 1962 3,069,764 PULLEY DRIVE FGR WASHING MACHINE Frederick Roy Sib'oald, Norwood Green, Southall, England, assignor to The Hoover Company, North lanton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Apr. 20, 1961, Ser. No. 104,429 Claims priority, application Great Britain May 12, 196$ 12 Claims. (Cl. 74--665) The present invention relates to washing machines and more particularly to a unitary combined washer-extractor unit for domestic use.

The present invention is an improvement over the washer-extractor unit disclosed and claimed in the US. patent issued to W. C. Bell, et al., No. 2,968,174, dated January 17, 1961.

The above-mentioned patent discloses a washer-extractor unit in which a drum or basket is rotatably mounted in an outer tub and an agitator or impeller is rotatably mounted in the rotatable drum and in which both the drum and agitator are driven by the same motor which requires a triple transmission from the motor.

The arrangement is such that the basket may be rotated slowly in one direction for a tumbling washing operation and the agitator or impeller selectively rotated reversely to aid in the washing operation. The basket may also be rotated in the same direction at a higher speed for a spin extraction operation and the impeller not positively rotated.

In the aforementioned Bell et al. patent the triple power transmission from the motor to the agitator and to the spin basket is complicated and cumbersome involving planetary gearing etc. for attaining the proper speed ratios and for rotating the transmission elements in the proper directions.

According to the present invention a reversible motor is used with a simple combined reversing and step down gearing to rotate the basket at a slow speed for tumble washing and a high speed direct connected transmission for rotating the basket at a high speed in the same direction for spin extraction operation which is also selectively operative to drive the agitator at a high speed in a reverse direction during the tumble washing operation.

The US. patent to Dunham 2,583,823 discloses the use of a reversible motor for driving a basket at slow speed for a tumble washing operation and at a high speed in the same direction for a spin extraction operation.

However, in the Dunham construction a complicated planetary gearing is used and there is no agitator for aiding in the washing operation during the slow tumbling washing operations.

Additionally, in the Dunham construction the gearing arrangement is complicated by the fact that the motor axis is aligned with the dual transmission so that only one end of the shaft can be utilized and the drives must parallel each other.

According to the present invention the motor is so mounted on the tub that both ends of the motor shaft may be utilized in transmitting the high and low speed rotation to the basket for rotating it in the same direction at low and high speeds and for selectively rotating the agitator at a high speed in the reverse direction during low speed operation of the basket.

According to the present invention a pair of free wheeling pulleys are connected to the end of a shaft which rotates the basket. One of the pulleys is directly connected by a belt to a pulley on one end of the motor shaft and the other pulley is driven at a low speed by a belt connected to a pulley which is driven from the other end of the motor shaft through a speed reducing and reversing gearing. The high speed pulley may also be selectively connected to the agitator shaft through an overrunning or freewheeling arrangement.

The French patent to Daverat 1,060,551 discloses a belt drive arrangement including a reversible motor and two overrunning pulleys on the end of a shaft which drives the clothes basket of a washing machine.

One of the pulleys is driven at a high speed by a belt directly connected to a pulley on the end of the motor shaft and the other is driven in the same direction at a low speed by a belt gearing from the motor wh ch reduces the speed of rotation and reverses its direction.

However, the disclosure of the French patent is schematic and no unitary arrangement is disclosed or suggested. Additionally the French patent fails to disclose a rotary agitator to aid the washing action during slow rotation of the basket.

In the following description various parts will be described as rotating clockwise or counterclockwise. It is to be understood, however, that such language is for the purpose of description and clarity only and that the direction of rotation of the parts may be reversed if desired.

The terms freewheeling and overrunning are used synonymously herein, as applied to various one-way clutches and means that no motion or power is being transmitted during such freewheeling or overrunning.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the combined washer-extractor of the present invention with the casing of the machine broken away to show how the washer-extractor unit is mounted relative to the frame,

FIG. 2 is a side view of the washer-extractor unit per se partly broken away to show certain details of the internal construction of the unit,

FIG. 3 is a view from the bottom or rear of the unit showing a preferred power transmission arrangement,

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of the rear end of the unit showing a detail of the present invention,

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view through the axis of the washer-extractor unit of the present invention,

FIG. 6 is a rear view of a modified form of the invention showing an alternate power transmission arrangement,

FIG. 7 is a side view of the rear of the modified unit of FIG. 6 and FIG. 8 shows a detail of the drive of the modification of FIG. 6.

Referring to the drawings and especially to FIGS. 1 and 2 the reference numeral 10 represents the unitary washer-extractor unit of the present invention. I

The unit 10 is resiliently supported on a framework generally indicated by the reference numeral 11, the details of which form no part of the present invention and need not be described in detail herein.

The unit 10 and its framework is encased in a cabinet 12 having a sloping front wall 13 provided With an access opening which communicates with an access opening in the washer-extractor unit 10 of the present invention.

The general arrangement of the combined washer-extractor unit 10 of the present invention is shown by FIG. 2.

The outer tube 14 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is resilientby a hollow shaft 18 through which the shaft 17 extends being rotatably mounted therein by bearings 19.

The tub 14 includes a hub 20 in which the hollow shaft 18 is rotatably mounted by means of roller bearings 21.

The basket 15 includes a hub 22, keyed to the hollow shaft 18 by means of a pin 23.

A running seal 24 of any suitable character is provided between the hub 22 of the basket 15 and the shaft 18 to prevent leakage when the agitator 16 is being rotated. Similarly, a running seal 25 is provided between the hub 22 of the basket 15 and the hub 20 of the tub 14 to prevent leakage when the basket is being rotated relative to the tube 14.

A driving sleeve 26 is keyed to the hollow shaft 18 by means of a driving pin 27. The driving sleeve 26 forms the inner member of a pair of overrunning clutches which, as will appear, act to drive the basket 15 clockwise but freewheel when rotated counter-clockwise as viewed from the left in FIG. 5.

A bearing sleeve 28 surrounds the sleeve 26 and forms the central member of the previously mentioned overrunning clutches.

'A pair of driving sleeves 29 and 3t) fixed to the pulleys 32 and 33 surround the bearing sleeve 28 and form the driving sleeves of the previously mentioned overrunning clutches.

One of the overrunning clutches is shown at 31. The overrunning clutch 31 may be of any well known type and acts to drive the shaft 18 in a clockwise direction as viewed from the left of FIG. 5 when the sleeve 29 is driven in a clockwise direction, and freewheels when the sleeve 29is rotated counter-clockwise.

A similar overrunning clutch (not shown) is provided between sleeves and 26 which is operative to drive sleeve 26 clockwise when the sleeve 30 is rotated clockwise and to freewheel when the sleeve 30 is rotated C0111]: ter-clockwise.

The sleeves 29 and 30 are keyed to the pulleys 32 and 33 respectively and form the bearings for those pulleys during freewheeling operation and also form the outer sleeves of the overrunning clutches during driving operations.

As viewed from the left in FIG. 5, each of the pulleys 32 and 33 freewheels relative to the tubular shaft 18 and, therefore do not impart rotation to the drum 15 when rotated in a counterclockwise direction and drive the shaft 18 and the basket 15 when rotated clockwise.

A plurality of pins 35 extend rearwardly from the pulley 33 through resilient bushings 34 in a driving plate 36, drivingly connected to a drive bushing 37 rotatably mounted on a bearing 38 surrounding shaft 17.

A driven bushing 39 is keyed to the shaft 17 by a set screw 40 and serves to rotate the shaft 17 and impeller 16 in a manner which will presently appear.

The bushings 37 and 39 are of the same diameter and are surrounded by a coiled spring 41 which forms'an overrunning clutch of the well known coiled spring type.

The spring 41 is Wound about the bushings 37 and 39 in such a direction that when the drive bushing 37 rotates clockwise, the spring 41 unwinds and the bushing 37 freewheels relative to the bushing 39 and the impeller 16 will not be driven.

However, when the pulley 33 drives the bushing 37 counterclockwise the spring 41, under normal conditions, will tighten about the bushings 37 and 39 so that the shaft 17 and impeller 16 will be rotated counterclockwise, which, as will later appear, is in a reverse direction than that of the rotation of the basket 15 which will then be rotated clockwise by the pulley 32. i

' The spring 41 has'its inner end 43 turned outwardly as 7 shown so as to extend through an opening in a housing 44, which under normal circumstances is freely rotatable about the bushings 37 and 39. V

The rotation of the impeller '16 in a counterclockwise direction may be selectively controlled by. stopping the 4 rotation of the housing 44 or -by permitting its free rotation.

When the housing 44 is prevented from rotating the end 43 of spring 41 will be held stationary and the spring 41 will unwind from about the bushings 37 and 39 and no rotative movement will be imparted to the shaft 17 and impeller 16. However, when the housing is permitted to rotate freely the spring 41 will tighten about bushings 37 and 39 and the shaft 17 and impeller 16 will be rotated counterclockwise by pulley 33.

The shaft 17 and agitator 16 are held in proper longitudinal position by a spacer sleeve 45 and collar 46 attached to the reduced end of shaft 17 bymeans of a set screw as shown.

The means by which the housing 44 may be held against rotation and released for rotation is shown in FIG. 4.

The cap 47 is free to rotate relative to the end of shaft 17 and may be attached to the sleeve 45 for that purpose.

A lever 48 is pivoted at 49 to the cap 47 and is provided with a tab 50 to be moved into the path of movement of a lug 51 extending outwardly from the wall of housing 44. The lever 48 is spring biased to the position shown in FIG. 4 by a spring 52 and maybe moved upwardly about its pivot point 49 by means of a solenoid 53 which may be selectively energized and de-ener'gized in any suitable manner.

When the lever 48 is in the position shown in FIG. 4

p the agitator 16 will be'rotated counterclockwise and when the tub 14 in any suitable manner.

the solenoid 53 is energized the tab 50 will be moved upwardly into the path of movement of lug 51, the housing 44 will be held stationary, the overrunning clutch 41 will freewheel, as previously explained, and the agitator 16 will remain stationary or rotate along with the drum 15 due to frictional engagement with the clothes in the drum 15.

As previously stated, the entire drive mechanism for the washer-extractor unit is carried by the unit 10.

A reversible motor 54 is secured to the lower part of For washing operations, in which the basket 15 is rotated slowly for tumbling the clothes, the basket 15 is driven by clockwise rotation of pulley 32 and for extracting purposes it is driven clockwise at a higher speed by pulley 33.

One end of the shaft of motor 54 is provided with a pulley 55 drivingly connected to pulley 33 by a belt 56 which passes over guide pulleys 57 and 58.

The other end of the shaft of the motor is connected through gearing 59 to a pulley 60 which drives pulley 32 by means of a belt 61. The gearing 59 is a speed reducing gearing and also reverses the direction of the output of the motor 54 at that end.

For tumbling washing operations whereinthe basket 15 is rotated clockwise at a slow speed by pulley 32,

' the belt 61 and pulley 60 are rotating clockwise.

During the clockwise tumbling rotation of basket 15 the motor 54 is rotating counterclockwise as is the pulley 33 which is freewheeling at a higher speed.

The pulley 33, through drive plate 36, overrunning 1 clutch 41 and shaft '17 will be rotating the agitator 16 counterclockwise at a higher speed unless the housing 44 is held against rotation by operation of the solenoid 53, in which case the overrunning clutch 41 will be overrunning and the agitator 16 will not be positively driven.

When the direction of rotation of the motor 54 is reversed, the pulley 33 will be driven clockwise at a high speed to drive the shaft 18 and basket 15 at a high speed for the spin extraction operation and the pulley 32 will be freewheeling.

During such rotation of pulley 33 the agitator 16 will follow in the same direction since the spring clutch 41 will be overrunning.

FIG. 4 also shows a means by which the basket 15 is locked against rotation when the door of the unit is open. A brake drum 62 is rigidly attached to the sleeve 26 as shown by FIG. 5. A brake shoe 63 is normally held out of engagement with the drum 62 by means of a Bowden wire device 64 which normally compresses spring 65 to hold the shoe 63 out of engagement with the drum 62. When the door is opened the Bowden wire mechanism 64 is released to permit the spring 65 to move the shoe 63 into contact with the drum 62.

With the motor 54 rotating counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 3, the pulley 33 will be rotating counterclockwise at a high speed and will be freewheeling or overrunning as far as the basket shaft 18 is concerned.

counterclockwise rotation of the pulley 33 will also rotate the drive bushing 37 counterclockwise and through the overrunning clutch 41 rotate the shaft 17 and agitator 16 counterclockwise at a high speed.

At the same time the pulley 32 will be rotating clock- Wise through the change speed and reversing gearing 59 so that the hollow shaft 18 and basket will be rotating clockwise at a slow speed to tumble wash the clothes in the basket 15 while the agitator 16 is rotating in the opposite direction at a high speed, providing that the solenoid 53 is de-energized to permit free rotation of the housing 44.

The selective reverse rotation of the agitator 16 at a high speed during the tumble washing operation is of particular advantage in a program operation of the machine. During draining operations when the clothes basket is rotating slowly the clothes will be distributed about the basket preparatory to the coming spin extraction operation. Obviously the agitator should not be rotating reversely at a high speed during that period.

Also in washing woolens, silks, rayons and other light fabrics the agitator is unnecessary and may even be harmful to the fabrics. Under such circumstances the solenoid 53 should be energized to stop the positive rotation of the agitator 16 during tumble Washing operations.

Any suitable control means may be provided. When the basket 15 is being rotated slowly for a tumbling washing operation the agitator 16 may be selectively rotated at a high speed in a reverse direction if desired, by permitting the solenoid 53 to remain de-energized. If it is desired to tumble wash without rotation of the agitator 16 the solenoid 53 may be energized in any suitable manner to stop positive rotation of the impeller 16 as previously explained, in which case the impeller 16 will be merely rotated at a slow speed in the same direction as the basket 15 by the frictional contact between the clothes in the basket 15 and the impeller 16.

Since the control means forms no part of the present invention it has not been shown. The operation of the unit may be manually controlled by the attendant or it may be controlled by any Well known timed sequence control in which the solenoid 53 is energized to prevent reverse rotation of the impeller 16 during the spin extraction operation or selectively for operations where rotation of the agitator is unnecessary.

FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 show a modified form of drive for the rear pulley 33 which eliminates the necessity of idler pulleys. When the parts are the same the same reference characters have been applied.

A special end cap 66 is attached to the end of motor 54 and supports one end of a curved shaft housing 67 which extends at an angle of 90 to the motor axis. Rotatably mounted on the extended end of housing 67 is a pulley 68 in alignment with the pulley 33.

The shaft housing 67 is secured against rotation relative to the end cap 66 by a pin 69 and its free end is supported by a bracket 70 attached to the side of motor 54.

The end of the motor shaft is rotatably mounted in the end cap 66 as shown in FIG. 8 and is keyed to a fiexible shaft 71 which extends through housing 67 and is keyed to the pulley 68. The shaft 71 is rotatably mounted in housing 67 by a plurality of bearing members 72 of the shape shown in FIG. 8.

The pulley 68 is drivingly connected to pulley 33 by a drive belt 73.

The modification of FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 operates in the same manner as the first modification except that the pulley 68 is directly connected to pulley 33 by belt 73 without the necessity of providing idler pulleys.

From the foregoing it can be seen that the present invention provides a simple unitary washer-extractor unit providing for both tumbling and agitator Washing and spin extraction by a simple triple drive from a reversible motor in which rotation of the motor in one direction rotates the clothes basket at a slow speed for tumble washing and selectively rotates the agitator at a high speed in the reverse direction to aid in the washing operation and in which when the motor is rotated in the reverse direction the clothes basket is rotated at a high speed in the same direction for a spin extraction operation.

While I have shown and described but two modifications of my invention it is to be understood that those modifications are to be taken as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense. I do not wish to be limited to the particular structure shown and described but wish to include all equivalent variations thereof except as limited by the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. A drive for a unitary combined washer-extractor having a non-rotary tub and a clothes receiving basket comprising; a shaft adapted to rotatably mount said basket Within said tub, a pair of freewheeling pulleys mounted on said shaft and constructed to drive said shaft in the same direction when rotated in one direction and to freewheel when rotated in the opposite direction and drive means for rotating one of said pulleys in one direction and the other in the opposite direction so that one is freewheeling while the other is driving and vice versa, said drive means including a reversible motor, a pair of gear trains between the shaft of said motor and said pulleys and constructed to drive said pulleys at high and low speeds and in reverse directions, whereby said basket is adapted to be driven by said shaft at a slow speed for washing and at a high speed for spin extraction and the direction of rotation of the motor is adapted to be reversed for changing from low to high speed rotation of said basket without said basket coming to rest.

2. A drive for a washer-extractor according to claim 1 in which said high and low speed drives are connected to opposite ends of the shaft of said motor.

3. A drive for a washer-extractor according to claim 1 in which said high speed drive includes a pulley directly driven by the shaft of said motor and connected to drive one of said freewheeling pulleys by a belt extending over said pulleys.

4. A drive for a washer-extractor according to claim 3 in which said motor driven pulley is driven by the shaft of said motor by means of a flexible shaft extending at right angles to the shaft of said motor.

5. A drive for a washer-extractor according to claim 1 including an impeller adapted to be rotatably mounted Within said basket coaxially thereof by means of an impeller shaft extending coaxially through said basket shaft and means for driving said impeller shaft at a high speed in a direction opposite to that of said basket shaft during the slow speed rotation of the latter.

6. A drive for a washer-extractor according to claim 5 in which said impeller driving means is selectively operable.

7. A drive for a washer-extractor according to claim 5 in Which said impeller driving means is driven from the high speed freewheel pulley during freewheeling rotation thereof.

8. A drive for a washer-extractor according to claim 7 in which said impeller driving means includes an overrunning clutch which freewheels when said high speed freewheeling pulley is driving said basket shaft and drives :1 said'impeller shaft when said freewheeling pulley is freewheeling.

a 9. A drive for a Washer-extractor according to claim 8 in which said overrunning clutch is selectively operable to also freewheel when rotating in its driving direction.

10. A drive for a Washer-extractor according to claim 9 in which said overrunning clutch is in the form of a coiled spring surrounding driving and driven bushings and is selectively operable byholding the driving ends of said spring stationary so that the spring will unwind When driven by said driving bushing.

11. A drive for a washer-extractor according to claim 10 including means actuated by a solenoid for holding the driving end of said spring stationary to cause it to freewheel when being driven in its normal driving direction. Y

12. A drive for a washer-extractor according to claim 1 in which said slow speed gear train includes a gear re duction and direction reversing unit driven by the shaft of said motor and driving a pulley drivingly connected by a belt to one of said freewheeling pulleys.

References Cited in the file of'this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,774,248 Moss Dec. 18, 1956 2,807,963 I Osterhus et al. Oct. 1, 1957 2,968,174 Bell et al. Jan. 17, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,144,868 France Apr. 29, 1957 

